Dishwashers, and in particular dishwashers designed for domestic use, are oftentimes provided with sprayers accomplishing the washing and rinsing of glasses, cups, cutlery items and the like by spraying pressurized streams of water mixed with a detergent over the glassware and crockery ware. The stream of the water must have enough pressure to clean the items in the dishwasher thoroughly, and as a consequence, the stream may sometimes cause the items in the dishwasher to dislodge when the dishwasher is in use. Dislodging of the items in the dishwasher may also be a problem when pulling out or sliding in the racks from and into the dishwasher. In particular, stemware, e.g. wineglasses and the like, may tend to easily get dislodged from their position in the rack of the dishwasher.
Today on the market, there are a great variety of known racks and holding devices, designed in different ways for holding different items in position in the dishwasher. One example of a holding device for holding stemware is disclosed in DE 29711822 U1. The holding device is designed as a cup rack provided with a plurality of supporting elements adapted to support a number of wineglasses. The supporting elements are provided with flexible snap elements adapted to aid in keeping the wineglasses in position.
A potential problem with using snap elements for securing the position of the stem in the cup rack is that it may be difficult to arrange the stem in the appropriate position between the supporting elements, and to remove the stem, in particular if the snap elements are not flexible enough. The stem of the wineglass may be fragile, and thus, the snap elements must be flexible enough to make it easy to arrange the stem in position without risking breaking the stem, at the same time as the snap elements must keep the stem in the desired position, which may be difficult to accomplish at the same time. In addition, the thickness of the stem of wineglasses may be different on different wineglasses which may also be a potential problem. The distance between the snap elements must then preferably be adapted to the thickness of the stem.
In DE 92 16330 U1 another example of a holding device for keeping stemware in position in a dishwasher is disclosed. In a similar way as mentioned above, the holding device is designed as a cup rack, and provided with a plurality of supporting elements adapted to support a number of wineglasses.
Yet another example of a holding device for wineglasses is disclosed in DE 29822086 U1. The holding device comprises a U-shaped element adapted to support the stem of the wineglass.
In GB2321394 A a support element, adapted to be pivotably mounted on a side wall of a basket, is disclosed. The movable support elements comprises slot openings extending in a substantially longitudinal direction with respect to the elements. The slot openings are adapted to engage with pegs fixed to the basket.
Thus, a variety of holding devices have been suggested to hold stemware glasses or other unstable items in the appropriate position in the dishwasher while in use, or while sliding the rack out from or into the dishwasher. However, the inventors of the present invention have identified a need for an improved holding device, which keeps the stemware in position more accurately, which may hold stems of different thickness, and which facilitates securing the stemware in the holding device.
An object of the present invention is to provide a holding device for stemware which ensures upright and secure position of the stemware within the rack of the dishwasher.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a holding device for stemware which facilitates positioning of the stemware in the holding device and removal of the stemware from the holding device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a holding device which may hold stems of different thickness in position.